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Langeni: New center will provide community resoures to LGBTQ

The Rev. Phiwa Langeni is the founder and director of Salus Center, has a Master's of Science in administration from Central Michigan University, a Master's of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary and a Master's of Sacred Theology with LGBTQ Concentration from Chicago Theological Seminary.
Published 5:48 a.m. ET Aug. 13, 2017 | Updated 8:52 a.m. ET Aug. 14, 2017

As a baby queer in Lansing, I remember my extremely long wait to turn twenty-one so that I could start going to Club 505, a lesbian bar in downtown Lansing. Up until I “graduated” to 505, I’d been going to Spiral and Paradise, both of which are/were gay bars that allowed eighteen-plus-year-olds to hang out in their spaces. Even though I went to college an hour away, I made the trek to Lansing every other weekend to find sanctuary at 505.

And then it closed. I was a patron there for only a few years, a short amount of time that, for me, made the difference between a steep aloneness and robust community. It certainly wasn’t perfect. Relationships were complex. Drama hid around the corner. Even so, these were my people and this was my home. Devastatingly exiled, I came to Lansing less frequently until I moved to Missouri for seminary a decade ago.

When I returned to Lansing last fall, I struggled to find resources necessary to access queer/trans-friendly healthcare and community. I cannot explain how life-draining it can be to safely search even just for basic resources. Queer/trans people are required to do this often and it comes at the cost of our personhood. My experiences leading up to and including my homecoming are what led to Salus Center, the new LGBTQ resource and community center that opens this fall in downtown Lansing.

I chose Salus as the name for this new community because salus is the Latin word meaning wholeness and well-being. That it’s a word not commonly used lends itself to the beauty of co-creating the evolving meanings of Salus within the gathering community. The Center part of the name is a play on the word, alluding to a physical place as well as a state of being.

My personal history and faith journey greatly shape my theological identity in a way that allows me to remain open to others’ beliefs, even if they don’t match mine. Over the course of my life, I’ve had difficulty fitting in because of my gender identity, sexuality, age, ethnicity, race, and even being a young and single parent. My firsthand experience of such exclusion makes me passionate about creating spaces where folk can gather fully and be in community with other full selves desiring to be whole.

When it comes down to it, folk want to be connected and most want that connection to be in diverse communities. My personal anthropological promptings suggest there’s an innate force inside of humanity that’s perpetually seeking to connect with the rest of creation. Cultivating this community not only brings about wholeness for those gathered, but in being and becoming whole beings, all the places we live, work, and interact with others will necessarily change and develop as we do at Salus Center and beyond. We’re called to live with integrity to bring forth all of our pieces that we may find peace in our wholeness.

In addition to gathering spaces, Salus Center will provide information on local LGBTQ-friendly resources, on-site holistic health services, trainings on LGBTQ issues to healthcare providers, human resource professionals, peer support facilitators, schools, churches, and any other interested groups seeking to expand their knowledge of and accessibility toward this community.

Salus Center is located at 624 E Michigan Ave, Lansing, MI 48912. We’ll host a Musical Brunch Fundraiser at Edgewood United Church on August 19 and an Open House on September 9. To learn more about how to engage and/or support Salus Center, please check out our website (saluscenter.org) or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@SalusCenterMI).

The Rev. Phiwa Langeni is the founder and director of Salus Center, has a Master’s of Science in administration from Central Michigan University, a Master’s of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary and a Master’s of Sacred Theology with LGBTQ Concentration from Chicago Theological Seminary.